Erik Hedin
In Worrals in the Wastelands, Erik Hedin was a trapper of Swedish ancestry and partner of Angus Fraser. In September 1939, he and Fraser were heading up the Chinokee River from Fort MacWilliam when they two emaciated men in a battered canoe. These two, upon learning that the war had started, hurried off. Hedin did not know their names but they were in fact Otto Rumey and Fritz Hanstadt, two German spies whom he would meet again. Shortly after the war ended, Captain John Larwood arrived in Fort MacWilliam wanting to finance an expedition and looking for a partner to go prospecting in the north. Sergeant Bob Grant, the local policeman, introduced him to Hedin. Hedin had always wanted to explore the headwaters of the Chinokee River and the northern lakes there as he fell a big strike would be made there one day. Hedin's partner Angus Fraser could not go with them as he was recovering from an injury, so Larwood and Hedin chartered an aircraft and were dropped off at Lake Desolation by a pilot Eddie Clark. When Clark returned to pick them up as arranged some three months later, neither Hedin nor Larwood was at their camp. What happened would only be revealed when Worrals and Frecks arrived at the lake to hunt for and arrest the war criminal Anna Shultz who was believed to have escaped there with a Luftwaffe officer named Otto Rumey and some others. Worrals and Frecks met Max Lowenhardt, one of the German fugitives. He revealed that Hedin and Larwood and met the Germans. Shultz was for killing the newcomers in case they gave away their secret. But Dr Wolfe, Shultz's husband had suggested that they team up with Hedin and Larwood. There would be more hands to work the gold and when the time came, they could be disposed of. When Clark arrived to pick Hedin and Larwood up, Wolfe had the two men drugged. They remained unconscious for three days and hence missed their rendezvous. When they awoke, they suspected nothing and simply assumed that Clark had somehow failed to make the appointment. Hedin and Larwood continued working the gold without suspecting anything until Hedin's partner Angus Fraser decided to travel up the Chinokee to look for his ovrdue partner. Approaching Lake Desolation, Fraser fired their recognition signal of two shots. Hedin heard it and he and Larwood soon met up with Fraser. Fraser had seen a picture and note about Anna Shultz in Bob Grant's office and soon put the two prospectors wise about the danger they were in. They moved off with Fraser but, before doing so, took the opportunity to hide the all the gold which they had extracted, some two hundred and fifty pounds in weight. Using Fraser's canoe, they crossed the lake, aiming to get away from Shultz. On the opposite shore, they came across Worrals' camp where they met Max Lowenhardt and later Worrals and Frecks. Now knowing who Shultz and Wolfe really was, Hedin and the others readily agreed to help Worrals and Frecks and this eventually led to the successful completion of their mission. At the end of the story, Larwood and Hedin were awarded a fair compensation for the gold they had extracted. Hedin shared his reward with Fraser. The three then set up a syndicate to work the gold find at Lake Desolation. Category:People Category:Worrals characters